What was Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 1

Cuban Missile CrisisBasically, through photographic evidence convened through U-2 flights over Cuba, the US discovered that the Soviet Union was deploying nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis began on October 14th, 1962, and lasted for 38 days. It is regarded as the time when the Cold War came the closest to an actual nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union; it could have developed into WWIII.

With the news of this confirmed evidence, President Kennedy called together a special group of senior advisers to meet secretly at the White House to help him come to a strategy as to avoid nuclear destruction of the United States. At this point in time, at the Cuban missile base, the Soviets were capable of hitting any city in the United States sans the far reaches of Washington state. This group created by Kennedy came to be known as the ExComm, or Executive Committee of the National Security Council. These officials discussed the various options, such as an immediate bombing strike or an appeal to the United Nations, both of which were dismissed early on. The real options for ExComm were only military- either a naval blockade and an ultimatum, or a full-scale invasion. The blockade was eventually chosen, even though a few of the officials of ExComm, notably Paul Nitze and Generals Curtis LeMay and Maxwell Tayler, pushed for more aggressive actions.

In the end, it came down to the wire. Soviet ships threatened to break the blockade and, at the last moment, turned back. The Soviets removed the missiles- under the condition that the US removed their own missiles from Turkey. President Kennedy ordered an end to the quarantine of Cuba on November 20th.

More information from WikiAnswers' contributors:

• Cuba was afraid that, after the bay of pigs (in which US-backed rebels attacked Cuba and failed) the US would try to topple the Communist party there. So they went to Khrushchev, an ally, and asked for help, and received some missiles. The Americans, who happened to be spying on Cuba at the time, discovered the missiles and raised a fuss, blockading the island. Khrushchev responded by telling his commanders that they could launch the missiles at the US if the Americans made any aggressive move. The world was sitting on the brink of nuclear war. Khrushchev realized this and, knowing that nuclear war would probably kill all human life, gave the order to remove the missiles.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962. When the Soviet Union secretly put nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, it nearly started a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The missiles were discovered by routine spy-plane surveillance. The missiles were still in the process of being made launch-ready. However, President Kennedy had very little time to make a decision regarding what to do about it. His military advisers all but demanded a full-scale air strike, followed by an invasion of the island. Instead, President Kennedy order the U.S. Navy to "quarantine" the island by not allowing any Soviet ships to travel to Cuba. This, combined with diplomacy, forced Soviet Premier Khrushchev's hand, and the missiles were withdrawn.